Big 12 welcomes TCU & West Virginia

TCU and West Virginia are both now official members of the Big 12 conference. The two schools keep the league at ten members after the departure of Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC. Many felt TCU should have been an original member of the Big 12, but were bypassed by Baylor when the league formed in 1996. Since then, the Horned Frogs have been a conference nomad, most recently in the Mountain West. West Virginia slugged thru a lengthy legal battle to leave the Big East ahead of its 27-month notification required in league bylaws. WVU is the Big 12’s first school in the eastern time zone, and may not be alone for long.

Both schools have experienced recent success in major sports. TCU beat Wisconsin in the 2011 Rose Bowl, while West Virginia also won a BCS bowl, routing Clemson in the Orange Bowl earlier this year. Plus the Mountaineers also played in the 2010 Final Four in Indianapolis.